Andy Murray smashes racket in anger as he loses brutal three-hour battle in Basel

A dejected-looking Andy Murray lost a brutal three-hour battle in Basel, where he took his frustration out on his racket as he saw his lead slip away.

Three-time major champion Murray was pushed to the brink by Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry to miss out on his first ATP quarterfinal since Doha in February. In exiting the tournament Murray also lost out on the opportunity to overtake Dan Evans as British No 2 come Monday, ahead of the Davis Cup Finals next month.

He may well still do that in the weeks to come, especially if Evans’s calf injury sustained in Vienna on Tuesday keeps him off the court. Leapfrogging Evans - who at 37th is two spots ahead in the live ATP rankings - would mean Murray will likely play singles at the Davis Cup Finals, where Britain take on Novak Djokovic’s Serbia.

But his demeanour in Basel might be worrying for captain Leon Smith, as was Cam Norrie’s humbling 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Alexander Zverev in Vienna, in more bad news for the struggling members of the British team.

Those factors looked far from Murray’s mind on Wednesday night though, as he flung his racket across the court during another demoralising loss - his fourth from his last six matches.

What will sting is how close he came against Etcheverry in the 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 defeat. A win over the world No 32 would have been Murray’s best on ranking since May, as well as a welcome boost considering he has not won consecutive matches since August.

He beat Etcheverry in a tough comeback three-setter at Indian Wells earlier this season, but the Argentinian flipped the script in Basel.

Murray won the 77-minute marathon first set in a tight tiebreak. That drawn out opener was only marginally shorter than the 84-minute set Murray had played in the gruelling previous round, and earlier in the week he had joked on social media about the never-ending sets he has been playing of late.

But when the clock hit two hours Murray was doubled over, trailing 4-2 in the second set and in no mood to laugh it off. To add insult to injury, then ensued a 15-minute game where Murray had four break-back points, but was unable to convert. Etcheverry held on, and Murray looked exhausted for most of the rest of the match.

Earlier in that second set, Murray had complained to the umpire about how far he had to walk to get to the towel boxes at the edge of the court, and how that was contributing to the match length. The long rallies, which 24-year-old Etcheverry grew into as the match wore on, did not help either.

Murray, 36, petered out thereafter, but found the energy to repeatedly smash his racket on the court. It continued an autumn of outbursts from Murray with each passing difficult loss, and added to a poor run from the top three British players, just a few weeks out from the biggest moment in men’s team tennis.